REVEALED: SOME ‘DEAD’ COVID-19 GRANTS BENEFICIARIES FOUND ALIVE

LOBAMBA – Some people registered dead in the Government Population Register and death certificates registered by their relatives were found to be alive.
The National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) and the Ministry of Home Affairs left the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) gobsmacked, after the entities paraded evidence relating to the 321 people who received over E720 000 from the COVID-19 food relief exercise in 2021. The shocking news was delivered by the NDMA Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Victor Mahlalela, yesterday. The NDMA was before the PAC to respond to audit queries that were raised by the Auditor General (AG), Timothy Matsebula, in a follow-up audit report in response to the PAC recommendation for the financial year ended March 31, 2021, that was tabled on July 31, 2024. The AG, in the follow-up audit, noted that he communicated to the controlling officer that during his audit of the NDMA for the financial years ended March 31, 2022 and 2023; COVID-19 food assistance grants amounting to E724 500 were paid to deceased persons through MTN Mobile Money (MoMo).

disbursed

These funds were disbursed to beneficiaries who were already deceased at the time of processing the payments and were not withdrawn by these beneficiaries.  In total, the number of the deceased beneficiaries was 321. The NDMA CEO told the PAC that after the follow-up audit by the AG, the entity went on a verification exercise to establish if these beneficiaries indeed had passed away and when did they die. Noteworthy, the conclusion that 321 people had passed away was confirmed by the Ministry of Home Affairs, through the Government Population Register. Some of the people on the list of the deceased indicated that they passed away in 2018, which was two years before the COVID-19 pandemic. Mahlalela told the PAC that they visited 171 households, who the deceased beneficiaries were from and uncovered that some indeed passed away. The CEO said to their surprise, they also discovered that nine people who were listed as dead were alive.

assistance

“The households acknowledged that they continued to receive food assistance after the passing of the main member. “We also found that nine of them were alive yet they appeared dead from the civil registry,” he said. The PAC Chairperson, Madala Mhlanga, enquired from the Ministry of Home Affairs officials, who were invited to the sitting, to provide an insight on the matter and how they concluded that the beneficiaries had passed on. The Ministry of Home Affairs Civil Registry official, Phathizwe Hlatshwayo, stated that they were given names with identity (ID) numbers of the beneficiaries, where with the help of the Royal Eswatini Technology Park (RSTP), they ran through the system and it was uncovered that some of the ID number holders were deceased. “The AG approached us to verify over 2 000 personal identity numbers (PINs) and reached out RSTP for assistance and we sent the spread sheet to them and they showed several discrepancies, including those deceased officials,” he said.

unfortunate

Hlatshwayo added that the NDMA also came with the 331 list of deceased, which they ran through the system. “It is unfortunate that after discovering that nine from the 331 were alive, but did not come to alert the Ministry of Home Affairs, so we can verify again,” he said.The officer explained that they concluded that these individuals had passed away, because there were death certificates registered for them by their relatives. “The system will register you dead after a death certificate is registered in your name,” he said. Mhlanga noted that from the list of the people who were said to be deceased, some of them passed away before COVID-19 and questioned the CEO how a person who passed away three years before the project ended up on the list of beneficiaries.“It is unfortunate chair, the beneficiary you are referring to, is among those we found to be alive,” he said.Without wasting any time, the PAC chairperson urged the Ministry of Home Affairs to verify if there was a death certificate registered in the beneficiary’s name.

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